Exodus from London accelerates

Posted by Dan Wilson Craw1632.20sc on March 29, 2016

The London housing crisis is taking its toll on families in the capital as they move to other parts of the UK in ever greater numbers. The net number of thirtysomethings and under-10s leaving the city has increased by 25% between 2012 and 2014 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

We have always seen more people in these age brackets move away from London than move there, but the difference is getting bigger. In the same two-year period, rents and house prices rose three times as fast in London as the rest of Britain.

Twentysomethings are the only age group that arrive London from elsewhere in Britain more than they leave, but these numbers are flat compared to the fall among other groups.

The numbers show that housing costs are becoming so expensive for Londoners that they are leaving behind friends and family in search of a better quality of life. Some of these families aren't even making the decision, instead being moved out of the city by local authorities who don't have social housing for them.

Nearly two-thirds of London's emigres go to the South East or East of England regions, typically within commuting distance of London, but the rest go to other parts of the country, draining skills from the capital.

While this would benefit the economies of other regions, the danger for London is that it loses its teachers, nurses, bus drivers and other workers on modest incomes who make the city tick. The success of the city and its communities is in peril, and it's the next Mayor of London's job to stop this exodus.

Tonight, Generation Rent is co-hosting a Hustings with Renters' Rights London and PricedOut, where we will be putting questions to the five main parties and finding out their plans to fix London's housing crisis.